unseen, UnSeen
by Elennare
Summary: Sanar and Ryelle discuss their meeting with Lirael. Set between chapters five and six of Lirael. Spoilers, naturally. TW for reference to possible attempted suicide.


Written for the "Interruptions" challenge at fan_flashworks. Unbeta'ed, so please point out any mistakes!

* * *

Quietly, each absorbed in her own thoughts, the twins brushed out their long fair hair, their movements unconsciously mirrored. Suddenly, they spoke together.

"So if we start further out, and close in..." said Sanar.  
"But why the Starmount Stair?" Ryelle mused at the same moment.

The twins looked at each other in surprise, and shivered. It was rare, and unsettling, when their thoughts did not run parallel.

"You go first, I think mine is the longer question," Ryelle said after a moment.

"I was thinking about the Red Lake," Sanar replied. "We know we can't See it, but how far around it can't we See? So - "

"Yes, of course, start far away and get closer. We should - " Ryelle continued.

"Propose that to the Nine Day Watch tomorrow," Sanar finished. "What were you thinking about?"

"Perhaps my thoughts were not so far from yours after all; I was thinking of another place where our Sight is clouded - "

"You're not suggesting Lirael has anything to do with what blocks our Sight in the West?!" Sanar interrupted, catching her sister's train of thought but astonished by it.

"Not directly," Ryelle answered slowly, "but why have none of the Clayr ever Seen her?"

"We don't know that she has never been Seen," Sanar argued. "A chance Sighting is hardly - "

"Something most people would remember, perhaps not," Ryelle conceded. "But we do know that the Nine Day Watch never has; even today, when we Saw the meeting with Touchstone and Sabriel, we didn't - "

"See her... you're right, that is strange. We should have - "

"Seen anyone there," Ryelle finished the idea.

Sanar frowned. "Perhaps we should also suggest that the Watch try to See her..."

Ryelle nodded. Sanar looked at her thoughtfully, feeling her worry for this young cousin of theirs. She was a little puzzled by her twin's concern; certainly they could both sympathise with a Clayr who was late in gaining the Sight, but there seemed to be more involved. What was it she had said? Oh yes, 'Why the Starmount Stair?'

"Well, why not the Starmount Stair?" Sanar said aloud. "We used to go up there sometimes..."

"To look at the Paperwings, we were always fascinated by them, long before we joined the Flight," Ryelle pointed out. "But Lirael didn't seem to - "

"Care for them, no... Still, it is a good place for solitude. A good place to hide from everyone. It would take a long time for anyone to think of looking for her there."

"I... don't... know..." Ryelle said slowly. "I think it was more than solitude she sought. I fear she was very near despair today... it was her fourteenth birthday, and a younger girl was Awakened. She's all too clearly lonely; do you remember what she said? 'I don't talk, really.' I think... she was looking for..."

"Escape? To run away, perhaps in a Paperwing, and her nerve failed?" Sanar asked, feeling that was not quite what Ryelle had in mind, but flinching away from what she feared she did.

"Perhaps... or perhaps an escape from everything." Ryelle seemed to struggle to get the words out, and a shudder ran through both twins at what the thought of what she was implying.

"No. Surely not. Such despair... so young?"

"Not so young, for an Unawakened Clayr," Ryelle pointed out softly.

"We never considered such a thing - "

"But we had each other. Who does Lirael have? Her mother is gone, she may not even remember Arielle; her father is unknown - and that must burden her..."

"She has her aunt," Sanar began to say, then shook her head at the same time as Ryelle shook hers, knowing before the words were spoken what her sister would say to that. Kirrith was a good Guardian of the Young, but she was strict, and would not favour Lirael in any way. Would not notice, perhaps, how unhappy her niece was.

"We have all neglected her, not Kirrith alone. Because we have never Seen her, we have forgotten her," Ryelle said. "Perhaps it was inevitable; we are so concerned with Seeing the future, we forget to look at the present."

"We must not forget her again, but watch over her," Sanar replied. "Try to make sure she is happy, no matter how long it takes her to gain the Sight."

Ryelle nodded. "I think this post at the Library will help her, as the Paperwing Flight helped us."

"Let us hope Vancelle will take her - and that she does not encounter too much danger there," Sanar replied. "I wonder why she chose the Library?"

"She said she enjoyed Charter magic; perhaps she wishes to learn more?" Ryelle suggested.

"Perhaps... In any case, I think it will suit her," her sister answered, remembering Lirael's hopeful look from behind her black hair, her eyes bright in her pale face, so unlike the rest of the Clayr.

"Looking different must make it harder," Ryelle said, her thoughts following her twin's. "Of course it does not matter, but she already feels different - "

"And when one difference is so painful, all the others only make it worse," Sanar continued the idea.

Ryelle gave her a sad half-smile. "Do you remember when we feared that the Sight delayed so long because we were twins? That it would take twice as long - "

"Or be split, and only half as strong." Sanar remembered all too well that dread. "Do you think Lirael fears - "

"That because she does not look like the other Clayr, she is not truly a Clayr? That the Sight will never come?" Ryelle slowly nodded assent.

"We found we were wrong, in time. I believe she will, too. I hope we soon See her Awakening," Sanar said determinedly.

Ryelle did not reply immediately. When she spoke, her voice seemed to come from far away.

"There are two areas were our Sight fails, Lirael and the West. And until we See one..."

"We shall not See the other," Sanar completed her twin's words. They looked at each other in silence. It was not, quite, a prophecy - you could not See that which would not happen - but it was something very akin.

Finally, Sanar spoke. "We must still try to See both. And even if we do not See Lirael - "

"We must watch over her. The Sight may be blind, but we must not be."


End file.
